The Serious Joke

Unexpected; would be the word that defines the Millers Tale. This Miller, boy does he have a mouth on him very crude that man. He is the anti-Disney morale so-to-speak. The sole details, that at one point I could simply describe as gruesome, of farts and hairy rear ends, made a complete contradictory path when juxtaposed to the Knight’s tale. However disappointing this might sound or this actually was, it was closer to reality, or so I think.

We, these newer generations, have Disney movies or any of its competitions’ which give us a sense of right from wrong. Back in the day, they were the same tales of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red riding Hood etc. that were collected by the Grimm brothers. Nonetheless, these were a little different that they are now, bloodier and somehow more realistic. Aware of how blunt and ordinary the tale is Chauser apologizes beforehand because he " moot reherce, hir tale alle, be thay bettre or werse" (lines 3173-3174) Why does he have to tell us the tales? A question that evidently can’t be answered thus far and I plan on trying to answer throughout the reading of the book.

As long as I’m on the topic of the prologue, the end of it caught my eye, which for simplicity’s sake I’ll put in modern English. “ Think about this, and don't blame me; And also people should not take a joke too seriously” (3185-3186) We have established the first part, that Chauser is not to be held responsible for the tale; however, I found the second part terribly confusing at first. Now, after reading the entire piece, I think that Chauser is mocking the drama of life, love, and society. By stating that you shouldn't take a joke too seriously, followed by an almost bizzare story which could be plausible suggests to the reader a certain level of mockery. In fact I think that the whole Canterbury Tales is in fact a satire. A satire by which Chauser  uses hyperbolic real life situations to mock us, society, and our way of living in it.